Poem in Your Pocket Day!

The doors to the library were decorated to look like jean pockets by the wonderful Mrs. Reese

This year we celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 18, 2013.  A few years ago when I first started taking my classes for becoming a media specialist, I was introduced to Poem in Your Pocket Day via www.poets.org. Two years ago I was on the third grade team, I swear my team thought I was crazy for scheming up another activity to our already busy schedule.  But it proved to be a huge success and the kids loved it. We even made aprons that said I <3 Poetry and stuffed our pockets with a variety of poems.  

3rd Grade Team on Poem in Your Pocket Day 2011

Last year when I found out I was going to be in this position a couple of us on the third grade team were talking about how fun it would be to get the entire school on board with celebrating poetry month and enjoying Poem in Your Pocket Day. That idea never really went away.  The seed was planted! 

This year we sent home notes (check out this Google Doc) letting kids know that Poem in Your Pocket Day was coming up soon.  We promoted it by asking teachers, paras, support staff, EVERYONE in the building to get into this.  You could walk down the hallway and say to any kid, "Hey! What poem is in your pocket?" Then you could take a few minutes to exchange poems and walked away with a smile.  It was a building activity that really brought us together.  Many teachers commented on how their students were completely excited about the day and how impressed they were that their students really got into it.  Isn't that awesome!?  A day to let literacy shine.  A day to unite the building.  A day to let kids have fun reading a poem they enjoy. 

Mrs. Reese and I also really got into it.  We decided we should be POETrees:

The Library POETrees 2013

"Mrs. Reese, what poem is in YOUR pocket?" 

I'm thinking next year we need to broaden the poetry horizons with April being National Poetry Month and have a Poetry Cafe for the entire building.  I'll continue scheming and seeing how I can make that happen! I'm looking forward to making it a building wide activity for ALL of our SES Bluejays.  Wouldn't it be fun each year to watch your kiddo grow with their poetry from Kindergarten to Fourth grade?  Ahh...the Kodak moment possibilities!